The present invention relates to a status information notification system for a network, in which a status of a network terminal is notified to anther terminal. The present invention also relates to the network terminal and a communication processing device constituting the status information notification system.
Conventionally, a plurality of terminals such as computers and printers are connected with a communication network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), and signals are exchanged therebetween through the LAN.
There is known a printer having a function of notifying its operational status to another terminal device. When such a printer is connected to the communication network as one of the terminals, the operational status of such a printer can be transmitted to another terminal device directly or via a printer server.
An example of such a network is disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. HEI 11-252119. According to the publication, a terminal device (e.g., a management device, computer or the like) can obtain the operational status information of a printer connected to the network through a printer server. In such a system, the print server issues request to the printer for the latest operational status whenever the status of the printer changes to obtain and accumulate the status information. It is examined whether the request from the terminal device is for the status information directly directed to the printer, or the accumulated status information in the printer server, and if the direct request to the printer, the print server obtains the status from the printer and then transmits the status information to the terminal. If the request is for the accumulated data, the print server transmits the accumulated status information to the terminal.
In the network system as discloses in the above-indicated publication, the printer needs to respond to a request for the status information from other terminal devices. Therefore, even if the printer is not required to carry out a printing operation, power should be continuously supplied to CPU and RAM which are used for controlling the operation of the printer. Therefore, the printer is impossible to operate in a so-called sleep mode, which makes it difficult to reduce the power consumption of the printer.